Improvement in making printer s ink



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD CLARK, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,102, dated July 5,1845.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CLARK, of the city of Brooklyn, county ofKings, and State of New York, have discovered and invented a new anduseful Improvement in the Manufacture or Composition of Printers Ink,whlch is applicable to printing with plates and types the differentvarieties of black and dark colors upon paper; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My discovery consists in dissolving asphaltum, or pitch, or turpentine,or balsam, or rosin, or any other resinous, gummy, or concretebituminous substance or substances, singly, or compounded, or mixed oneor more of them together in the liquid which is condensed from thedistillation of anthracite and colophony simultaneously in iron retortsfor the manufacture of carbureted-hydrogen gas for illuminating purposesor otherwise. The product so condensed and obtained I denominate,

for the convenience of description, colophene.

To enable others skilled in the art of making printers ink to usemyinvention, I describe it as follows j The colophene best adapted forthe manufacture of printers ink is that obtained from.

a second distillation of the article with an thracite, because by thisprocess it is rendered more dark and viscid but it is not, nor can itwell be, prepared of uniform consistency; but this is to be remedied byadding a greater or less quantity of asphaltum or rosin, or of whateverarticle the manufacturer may desire to use, to the colophene till it hasacquired the necessary viscidity or consistence to receive the requisitequantity of lamp-black or other material to form printers ink. Thecolophene is to be heated in an iron kettle to a temperature of 220 or2309 Fahrenheit, to drive off any water that may be present in it, afterwhich about two pounds of asphaltum or rosin, or of any other materialintended to be used, is to be added to every gallon of the colophene,and the whole kept in motion till the substance so added be dissolvedand a uniform fluid formed. It on cooling the mixture be too thick, morecolophene is to be added, and vice versa.

If the ropy quality of the ink requires to be increased, 1 dissolve halfan ounce of caoutchouc in every gallon of the mixture, or such quantityas will impart the proper consistency to it. I also add yellow rosin,soap, or soft soap to the ink in such quantity as it will bear for thesame purpose that it is used in the or dinary manufacture of printersink-viz, to allow the types, whenever they clog, to be more easilycleaned. The use of alarge quantity of this article causes the types toform rough lines, which is to be avoided. It should be here remarkedthat when it is desirable to preserve this kind of printers ink for alength of time, or when too stiff to increase its fluidity, a smallquantity of prepared linseed-oil, in which litharge or some other dryingmaterial has been dissolved, is to be added.

In preparing ink for copperplate-printing I use Frankfort black insteadof lampblack. Most'of the materials used in the preparation of this inkare, when heated,inflammable, and means should be provided in thepreparation of the colophene to guard against accidents from fire. I

What I claim as my discovery, and the advantages of which I wish tosecure to myself and my legal representatives by Letters Patent, is-

The admixture or combination of colophene either with asphaltum, orrosin, or pitch, or tupentine, or balsam, or prepared linseedoil, orcaoutchouc, or with any of the materials known as resins, gum-resins,and bitumens, or with any two or more of them,and with lamp-black orFrankfort black or other dark-colored matter, in such due proportions asto form printers ink, and the proportions before given, varied by thejudgment of the manufacturer according to the consistency of the mixedmaterials used, will be found to effect the object.

EDWARD CLARK.

obtaining In presence of- JOSEPH STURNZ,

JAMES P. HYA'I'T.

